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ti amo = I love you 

sorellina = little sister 

grazie = thank you 

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There's a knock on the door and Dino opens it. He exchanges some words with the doctor in the hall and shoots Bruno a look, before walking out of the room. They can clearly hear a heated discussion between Dino and the doctor, but they can't hear enough to make out any of the words. When the door opens again, they hear Dino say in an irritated tone: "Don't forget who gave you that nice bonus, doctor!"

Dino walks over to Bruno and Scorpia and crouches down in front of her. "Scorpia? Listen to me, please. It's about Logan."

She lifts her head and looks at him.

"He was awake for a minute, but he was so aggressive that they gave him a sedative. According to the doctor, he yelled 'Bonnie', but they were scared he might hurt himself. The doctors want to put him into a medically induced coma, to give him time to calm down."

Scorpia looks deep into Dino's eyes and asks: "If they put him into a coma, how will they know when to wake him up again? How will they know he has calmed down enough to do so?"

Dino smiles a tiny bit and kisses her cheek. "Smart sister. That's why I proposed something else. We're going to make sure he can see and hear you when he wakes up. You've calmed him down before, we know he responds to you."

She gets up and asks: "Where is he?"

Dino holds his hand out to her. "Come with me. I'll take you to him."

She grabs onto his hand and pulls him towards the door.

Bruno nods at Dino and drags his chair over to the bed with Ciro in it.

Dino takes Scorpia to a nice, bright room with a big bed. Logan is lying in it with his eyes closed, hooked up to various machines, and with his right hand wrapped up.

Scorpia lets go of Dino's hand and takes her boots off, before crawling onto the left side of the bed. She places her head on Logan's chest and listens to his calm heartbeat.

Dino comes closer and rubs her back. He picks up a blanket from a chair and covers her with it. "You watch over him, little sister. I'll make sure they allow you to stay here and that someone brings you food and drinks. Ti amo." He leaves her alone and walks back to Ciro's room.

Once in Ciro's room, he sits down on a chair next to the bed and puts his head down on the mattress.

Ciro says: "That little, follow-me-around-everywhere brother turned out to be a real leader. When did you become a responsible adult?"

Dino says: "When I looked into my little sister's eyes while holding a bag of ice against her cheek in that abandoned building."

Ciro says: "She did it, dammit. She killed Salvatore."

Bruno says: "Thinking about it still makes me sick. What he said to her... Did to her... And she just waited for the perfect moment. I was in full-blown panic mode when I ran out of there with her in my arms. If Dino hadn't been there..."

They tell Ciro all about their side of the story. And about mamma, Enzo, Lexy, and Lucas.

Ciro says: "I still can't wrap my mind around what Logan did. The look in his eyes when he told you to go, Dino. He just accepted that he wasn't going to make it, but did everything he could to make sure she'd be safe."

Ciro shakes his head and continues. "I was just as willing to go down fighting, but it all came from a place of guilt for me. He was fighting for love. I've never seen anything like it. How many men do you know that are willing to beat up the woman they love, to help her carry out a plan she worked on for ten years. A man who is willing to protect the brother who's the cause of her pain. Just because he's her brother. A man willing to die for a woman he just met?"

Bruno adds: "A man Enzo said 'ti amo' to, from the second he met him. A Scot willing to serve Italian whiskey, because Alba means Scotland."

Dino says: "A man who had to lose fights for Salvatore for five years."

Bruno says: "And immediately left his motherland to support his pregnant sister."

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Bruno puts his shirt back on and Dino buttons up his dress shirt, before pulling Ciro's hospital gown down. They grin at each other while exchanging conspiratory looks. 

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Bruno says: "Will you look after her for me? I'll go visit mamma and talk to Lexy. If anything changes, call me."

Dino nods and says: "I promise bro. Hug Enzo and mamma for me, okay?"

Bruno nods and walks out of the room.

Ciro says: "Go, little brother. I am going to close my eyes for a while. I'm exhausted."

Dino walks over to Logan's room and opens the door quietly. Scorpia is sleeping on Logan's chest and looks relaxed for the first time today. He closes the door again and makes his way over to the shop on the ground floor.

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Bruno pulls into mamma's driveway and sees two boys running his way. They look disappointed when they see Logan is not with him. Bruno picks Enzo up and runs his fingers through Lucas' hair. "Come inside boys. We need to talk."

Lexy and mamma are seated at the kitchen table and Bruno looks into Lexy's eyes. He is a bit taken aback, because she looks a lot less devastated than he expected, after everything she's been through.

She gets up and walks over to him. Bruno puts Enzo down and Lexy wraps her arms around his neck. She lays her head against his chest and breathes out slowly. She whispers: "You're safe."

Bruno sinks onto the floor and is showered by hugs from Lexy, Enzo, and Lucas. Mamma comes up to him too and runs her fingers through his hair. She says: "Hold onto them and never let go, Bruno."

Bruno breaks, now that he doesn't have to be strong for Scorpia anymore. Lexy kisses away his tears and Enzo and Lucas hug each other.

They all sit down on the couch. Bruno is seated between Lexy and Lucas and Enzo is sitting on his lap. He hugs Enzo and closes his eyes. He really dreads telling them about Logan but knows he has to.

Lexy asks: "Lucas? Could you go and play outside with Enzo, please? Mommy has to talk to Bruno alone for a bit." Lucas gets up and does as he's told. Mamma follows the boys outside, to keep an eye on them.

Lexy holds her hand against Bruno's cheek and says: "Tell me, Bruno. How is Logan doing?" Bruno tells her that he's the hero in the story, but that he most likely had a psychotic episode and that his hand is shattered. That her brother did everything in his power to make sure Scorpia reached her goal and that she was safe.

Lexy says: "I know about Salvatore. Mamma told me. Is Scorpia feeling guilty?"

Bruno nods.

"Can you call her? Find a way for me to talk to her?"

Bruno stares at her with a shocked look and she says: "I have to thank her." Bruno is completely lost but calls Dino anyway.

Dino walks into Logan's room and Scorpia raises her eyebrows at him. He puts the phone on speaker and says: "I'm in Logan's room now. Scorpia's here and you're on speaker."

Scorpia's eyes open wide as soon as she hears Lexy's voice.

"Scorpia? Thank you. For killing the asshole that made my little brother lose fights for five years. For ending the life of the goddamn bastard that did something unforgivable to you. For saving all the girls he was planning to rape and abuse. And mostly for giving my brother something to fight for. You made him believe in love. Thank you sorellina."

Bruno wipes the tears from her cheeks and takes the phone from her.

Dino grabs the phone and walks out of the room. "Bruno?"

"Yes?"

"Hold onto that woman tightly."

Bruno chuckles and says: "Mamma said the same thing."

Bruno looks deep into Lexy's eyes and says: "Wow. This is not how I imagined it to be. I was mentally prepared for getting my as kicked by you. At the very least."

She smiles at him and says: "I know my brother. And I've learned about your family at warp speed, through mamma Anna. A family willing to protect each other and everyone they love, is a family I want to belong to. The only thing I really want now is to get to know you better. Because I already love Enzo." Bruno's eyes fill up with tears and Lexy kisses him softly.

The boys come in at that moment and Lucas freezes on the spot, staring at Bruno and his mom. Enzo runs over to them and yells: "Kisses!" They pick him up and kiss him both.

Lucas snaps out of his daze, starts running too and yells: "Kisses!" They kiss Lucas too and laugh together.

Enzo looks at Bruno and asks: "Soppia?"

Lucas looks at Bruno too and asks: "And uncle Logan?"

Bruno says: "Uncle Logan had an accident and is in the hospital. Scorpia is with him."

The boys accept his answer immediately and Lucas says: "Come on Enzo. Let's make a drawing for Uncle Logan." They kneel down at the coffee table and Enzo sings his favorite Ogan song while hey draw together.

Lexy rubs Bruno's back and says: "Those two boys are so sweet together. It's amazing."

Bruno lifts Lexy onto his lap and says: "Yes, amazingly sweet boys. And an amazingly sweet mom." He kisses Lexy gently and she wraps her arms around him.

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Dino walks back into the room, armed with sandwiches and drinks he bought downstairs. Scorpia wipes the tears from her cheeks and looks at him. He smiles at her and sits down on the chair next to the bed. "I brought sandwiches and something to drink. And I spoke to the doctor. Everyone knows you will be staying here, with Logan. According to the doctor he should wake up soon unless his brain is making him sleep. Eat and drink something sister. You need your strength to calm him down when he wakes up."

She sits up and takes a sandwich from him. She takes a bite and as soon as she has swallowed it she says: "Dino. Thank you."

Dino shoots her a pained look and asks: "For what sister? For leaving you alone with that bastard ten years ago?"

She shakes her head and says: "I have forgiven you for that already. Thanks for everything you did since the tournament. For not betraying me. For allowing me to stay with Logan..."

"Oh sorellina, I will take care of you for the rest of my life. Because I totally don't forgive myself. And you belong with Logan and he belongs with you, that's crystal clear."

She finishes her sandwich and says: "Could you please tell Ciro I forgive him too. And that I'm really glad Logan protected him?"

Dino looks deep into her eyes and says: "I will sis." He hands her a bottle of water and she takes a few sips.

She softly says: "I hope he wakes up soon. He has to wake up."

Dino puts a hand on her shoulder and says: "He will wake up Scorpia. He didn't make it through all of this to give up now. By the way, what does Bonnie mean?"

Scorpia says: "Oh Dino. There's a big part of my story that you don't know yet. I lived as two different women for years. And when I went home with Logan for the first time, he said he didn't know what to call me. Because I looked like a mix of those two women. I told him I was there as myself and that he had to come up with a name. He called me bonnie lass. Bonnie stuck and turned into a loving nickname."

Dino taps on his phone and says: "Beautiful girl, that's what it means. Bonnie means beautiful."

Scorpia smiles and sets the bottle of water down on the nightstand. She lies down next to Logan again and Dino tucks her in.

"I'll leave you be sister. I'll be back tomorrow morning. You can call me anytime, for anything. Even if it's the middle of the night. Ti amo." He turns around and walks out of the room.

Scorpia pushes her nose against Logan's neck and breathes in his scent. She whispers: "Logan, please come back to me. You promised me a decent date. I love you. Bonnie loves you." A tear rolls down her cheek and lands on Logan's neck. Her eyes shoot open when she hears him whisper softly.

"Bonnie."

"Logan?" But he doesn't say anything else and she's afraid she imagined it. She lies her head down on his chest and cries herself to sleep.

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Mamma puts Lucas and Enzo to bed, who want to sleep together in the same bed again. She comes back down with a smile on her face and says: "You can't separate those two. They belong together."

Lexy smiles and says: "I wouldn't dare."

Bruno plants a kiss on Lexy's temple and looks into his mother's eyes. "Grazie mamma. For taking such good care of them."

Mamma shakes her head. "Family is family. You know that. How are Ciro and Logan doing?"

Bruno tells her about it and mamma asks: "What did Scorpia say? When she heard about the doctors wanting to put Logan into a coma?"

"Dino had already decided to give Scorpia a shot at that point. He basically forbade the doctor to do that. The first thing Scorpia asked was how they would know when to wake him up again."

Bruno sighs and says: "Mamma, when she found out we were in the cafe without Logan... She wanted to go back."

Bruno rubs his face and says softly: "If he doesn't wake up, we will lose her. She is balancing on the ledge. I have seen the light disappear from her eyes."

He sighs and continues: "Maybe I should have stopped her... She said herself it wasn't worth it. That her heart and soul are broken."

Lexy puts her hand on his leg and says: "She says that now, because she hasn't been able to look into his eyes. But as long as Salvatore was alive, she wasn't really living. You can't move on after something like that, you just float between life and death."

She squeezes his leg softly and says: "You need something important to cling to. Something big, that shakes you to your core. She needed this, to be able to let go of the dark part of her heart. The same goes for Logan. He always stayed afraid of Salvatore and his men and of what they could do to his family. I am convinced that this was the only solution for both of them. They have a shot at a happy life this way."

Mamma stands in front of Lexy and puts her hands on Lexy's cheeks. "Dear girl, what happened to you?"

A tear rolls down Lexy's cheek and Bruno stares at her with a shocked look on his face.

Lexy whispers: "Lucas."

Bruno doesn't get what's going on, but mamma says lovingly: "You turned a curse into a blessing. And that's why God blessed you with a child that looks like you and your brother. A child that is extremely sweet, because that's what you deserve. A child that brought all of us together through Scorpia."

Mamma kisses Lexy on her forehead and does the same to Bruno. "Good night. Talk. I will keep an eye on the kids."

Bruno looks at Lexy with a puzzled expression on his face and she breathes in slowly.

She says: "Brace yourself... And Lucas can never know... But he is the result of rape."

Bruno pulls her into his arms and whispers: "Oh Lexy."

She says: "I couldn't do it. I couldn't distance myself from the little wonder growing inside me. He gave my life meaning. I loved him before he was even born."

She sighs and says: "And Logan? Logan my little brother, who fought for five years straight and who still had so much love in his heart... He got on a plane and helped me with everything. He came with me to ultrasounds, Lamaze class, you name it. He also loved Lucas before he was born. He never once asked me who the dad was. He just opened his heart to us and worked his ass off to keep the bar running. Lucas saved the both of us. Me mostly, because Logan only lived for us. Not for himself."

Bruno strokes her back and kisses her cheek. "If you are not afraid to give it a go with an old boxer with a son and a big, maybe slightly criminal family... I can promise you right now that you will be loved and protected forever. You will never be alone again. And I would love to give Enzo a mother. But not just any mother. A strong, loving woman, who can even give him a big brother. I love you both Lexy."

Lexy cries silent tears and says: "If you promise to hold me for the entire night, I will say yes to your proposal."

Bruno gasps and says: "I'd love to."

He picks her up and carries her upstairs.

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There you go, Chapter 17 or Capitolo Diciassette.

A chapter to prepare you for the next one. 

Will Logan wake up? 

How is Scorpia really doing? 

Prepare yourself for some more drama. 

See you in the next chapter!XO Hankie ❥